Wm.exe NVRAM Manager

My close dialog box frequently features Wm.exe. When I close this little baby, as when I am closing all running apps before loading new software or prior to scan disk or disk defrag, a message comes up and says that Wm.exe is not responding. From a little digging around I have discovered that Wm.exe is a NVRAM Manager. It resides in c:windowssystemwinmodem.101

What does Wm.exe do? That is, what is a NVRAM Manager?
Why is it always not responding?
Is this non response affecting performance?
Is there something I can do to rectify the not responding characteristic of Wm.exe?